diff --git a/plugins/platforms/telegram/adapter.py b/plugins/platforms/telegram/adapter.py
index 59930c2eb49..40e7cb06371 100644
--- a/plugins/platforms/telegram/adapter.py
+++ b/plugins/platforms/telegram/adapter.py
@@ -15,11 +15,130 @@ import logging
 import os
 import html as _html
 import re
+import threading
 from datetime import datetime, timezone
 from typing import Dict, List, Optional, Set, Any
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
+
+def _consume_abandoned_task(task: asyncio.Task) -> None:
+    """Observe a detached task's terminal exception to avoid noisy loop logs."""
+    try:
+        task.exception()
+    except asyncio.CancelledError:
+        pass
+    except Exception:
+        logger.debug("Abandoned Telegram init task failed after timeout", exc_info=True)
+
+
+async def _await_with_thread_deadline(awaitable, timeout: float, *, on_abandon=None):
+    """Await with a wall-clock deadline that does not depend on loop timers.
+
+    ``asyncio.wait_for`` schedules its timeout on the event loop and then waits
+    for cancellation to propagate.  PTB/httpcore initialization can sit inside
+    cancellation-shielded anyio scopes, so a timed-out initialize() may never
+    hand control back to the retry ladder under some supervisors.  This helper
+    lets a daemon ``threading.Timer`` wake the loop and, on timeout, abandons
+    the shielded task instead of awaiting cancellation completion.
+
+    ``on_abandon`` (optional) is a zero-arg callable returning an awaitable that
+    is scheduled as a detached best-effort cleanup when the task is abandoned on
+    timeout.  The abandoned initialize() may leave a half-built httpx client /
+    connection pool open (it never completed and we do not await its
+    cancellation), so the caller uses this to shut that state down and avoid
+    leaking a pool per retry attempt.  Cleanup runs detached and its own errors
+    are swallowed, so it can never re-block the retry ladder.
+    """
+    task = asyncio.ensure_future(awaitable)
+    loop = asyncio.get_running_loop()
+    deadline = loop.create_future()
+
+    def _mark_expired() -> None:
+        if not deadline.done():
+            deadline.set_result(None)
+
+    def _expire_from_thread() -> None:
+        loop.call_soon_threadsafe(_mark_expired)
+
+    timer = threading.Timer(max(timeout, 0.0), _expire_from_thread)
+    timer.daemon = True
+    timer.start()
+    try:
+        done, _ = await asyncio.wait(
+            {task, deadline},
+            return_when=asyncio.FIRST_COMPLETED,
+        )
+        if task in done:
+            if not deadline.done():
+                deadline.cancel()
+            return await task
+
+        task.cancel()
+        task.add_done_callback(_consume_abandoned_task)
+        if on_abandon is not None:
+            # Detached best-effort cleanup: close the half-built app's httpx
+            # client/pool so an abandoned attempt can't leak sockets across the
+            # retry ladder. Detached + exception-observed so it never re-blocks
+            # or re-hangs the ladder we are trying to advance.
+            cleanup = asyncio.ensure_future(_run_abandon_cleanup(on_abandon))
+            cleanup.add_done_callback(_consume_abandoned_task)
+        raise asyncio.TimeoutError()
+    finally:
+        timer.cancel()
+
+
+async def _run_abandon_cleanup(on_abandon) -> None:
+    """Run the abandonment cleanup coroutine, swallowing any failure.
+
+    Wrapped so a cleanup that itself hangs or raises cannot surface as an
+    unhandled task error or block anything — it is fully fire-and-forget.
+    """
+    try:
+        result = on_abandon()
+        if asyncio.iscoroutine(result) or asyncio.isfuture(result):
+            await result
+    except Exception:
+        logger.debug("Abandoned Telegram init cleanup failed", exc_info=True)
+
+
+async def _shutdown_abandoned_app(app) -> None:
+    """Release a half-built PTB app's httpx transports after init was abandoned.
+
+    ``Application.shutdown()`` / ``Bot.shutdown()`` are gated on the app's
+    ``_initialized`` / ``_requests_initialized`` flags, which a wedged
+    ``initialize()`` (the case this whole path exists for) may never have set —
+    so calling only ``app.shutdown()`` no-ops and leaks the connection pool it
+    was meant to close.  ``HTTPXRequest`` builds its ``httpx.AsyncClient``
+    eagerly in its constructor and its ``shutdown()`` gates only on
+    ``client.is_closed``, so closing the request transports directly releases
+    the pool regardless of PTB init state.  We try the clean path first, then
+    fall back to the transports.  All best-effort and swallowed.
+    """
+    if app is None:
+        return
+    try:
+        await app.shutdown()
+    except Exception:
+        logger.debug("Abandoned Telegram app.shutdown() failed", exc_info=True)
+    # Directly close the underlying request transports (bypasses PTB's
+    # init-gated shutdown so the eagerly-built httpx pool is released even when
+    # the abandoned initialize() never flipped _initialized).
+    bot = getattr(app, "bot", None)
+    requests = getattr(bot, "_request", None) if bot is not None else None
+    if not requests:
+        return
+    for request in requests:
+        shutdown = getattr(request, "shutdown", None)
+        if shutdown is None:
+            continue
+        try:
+            result = shutdown()
+            if asyncio.iscoroutine(result) or asyncio.isfuture(result):
+                await result
+        except Exception:
+            logger.debug("Abandoned Telegram request shutdown failed", exc_info=True)
+
 try:
     from telegram import Update, Bot, Message, InlineKeyboardButton, InlineKeyboardMarkup
     try:
@@ -2925,7 +3044,17 @@ class TelegramAdapter(BasePlatformAdapter):
                         "[%s] Connecting to Telegram (attempt %d/%d)…",
                         self.name, _attempt + 1, _max_connect,
                     )
-                    await asyncio.wait_for(self._app.initialize(), timeout=_init_timeout)
+                    await _await_with_thread_deadline(
+                        self._app.initialize(),
+                        timeout=_init_timeout,
+                        # On timeout the initialize() task is abandoned without
+                        # awaiting its cancellation (it may be wedged in a
+                        # shielded scope). Best-effort release the half-built
+                        # app's httpx client/connection pool so it isn't leaked
+                        # across the retry ladder (mirrors the client-close-on-
+                        # timeout pattern in agent/auxiliary_client.py).
+                        on_abandon=lambda app=self._app: _shutdown_abandoned_app(app),
+                    )
                     break
                 except asyncio.TimeoutError:
                     if _attempt < _max_connect - 1:
diff --git a/scripts/release.py b/scripts/release.py
index ffebac6b3d2..0ab5cc2aabe 100755
--- a/scripts/release.py
+++ b/scripts/release.py
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ ACP_REGISTRY_MANIFEST = REPO_ROOT / "acp_registry" / "agent.json"
 
 # Auto-extracted from noreply emails + manual overrides
 AUTHOR_MAP = {
+    "yingwaizhiying@gmail.com": "msh01",  # PR #58250 salvage (telegram: wall-clock init timeout via daemon-thread deadline + abandon the shielded initialize task on timeout so the retry ladder advances instead of hanging on attempt 1/8 under s6 supervision; #58236)
     "huanshan5195@users.noreply.github.com": "huanshan5195",  # PR #57601 salvage (custom-provider: emit reasoning_effort at the live CustomProfile path so GLM-5.2/ARK/vLLM/Ollama endpoints receive it; + "max" reasoning level)
     "infinitycrew39@gmail.com": "infinitycrew39",  # PR #56431 salvage (honor live vLLM context limits on local endpoints)
     "jonathan.kovacs999@gmail.com": "CocaKova",  # PR #57692 salvage (cron: run jobs under the profile secret scope so get_secret does not fail-close with UnscopedSecretError under profile isolation)
diff --git a/tests/gateway/test_telegram_init_deadline.py b/tests/gateway/test_telegram_init_deadline.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ca697276e8b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/gateway/test_telegram_init_deadline.py
@@ -0,0 +1,201 @@
+import sys
+from unittest.mock import AsyncMock, MagicMock
+
+import pytest
+
+from gateway.config import PlatformConfig
+
+
+def _ensure_telegram_mock():
+    if "telegram" in sys.modules and hasattr(sys.modules["telegram"], "__file__"):
+        return
+    telegram_mod = MagicMock()
+    telegram_mod.ext.ContextTypes.DEFAULT_TYPE = type(None)
+    telegram_mod.constants.ParseMode.MARKDOWN_V2 = "MarkdownV2"
+    telegram_mod.constants.ChatType.GROUP = "group"
+    telegram_mod.constants.ChatType.SUPERGROUP = "supergroup"
+    telegram_mod.constants.ChatType.CHANNEL = "channel"
+    telegram_mod.constants.ChatType.PRIVATE = "private"
+    telegram_mod.error.NetworkError = type("NetworkError", (OSError,), {})
+    telegram_mod.error.TimedOut = type("TimedOut", (OSError,), {})
+    for name in ("telegram", "telegram.ext", "telegram.constants", "telegram.request"):
+        sys.modules.setdefault(name, telegram_mod)
+    sys.modules.setdefault("telegram.error", telegram_mod.error)
+
+
+_ensure_telegram_mock()
+
+from plugins.platforms.telegram import adapter as tg_adapter  # noqa: E402
+from plugins.platforms.telegram.adapter import TelegramAdapter  # noqa: E402
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_connect_retries_when_initialize_wall_deadline_expires(monkeypatch):
+    """A wedged initialize() attempt must not trap startup on attempt 1/8."""
+    fake_app = MagicMock()
+    fake_app.bot = MagicMock()
+    fake_app.initialize = AsyncMock(return_value=None)
+    fake_app.start = AsyncMock()
+    fake_app.add_handler = MagicMock()
+
+    chainable = MagicMock()
+    chainable.token.return_value = chainable
+    chainable.request.return_value = chainable
+    chainable.get_updates_request.return_value = chainable
+    chainable.build.return_value = fake_app
+
+    builder_root = MagicMock()
+    builder_root.builder.return_value = chainable
+    monkeypatch.setattr(tg_adapter, "Application", builder_root)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(tg_adapter, "HTTPXRequest", MagicMock)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(tg_adapter, "discover_fallback_ips", AsyncMock(return_value=[]))
+    monkeypatch.setattr(tg_adapter, "resolve_proxy_url", lambda *a, **k: None)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(tg_adapter.asyncio, "sleep", AsyncMock())
+
+    deadline_calls = 0
+
+    async def _fake_deadline(awaitable, timeout, *, on_abandon=None):
+        nonlocal deadline_calls
+        deadline_calls += 1
+        if deadline_calls == 1:
+            awaitable.close()
+            raise tg_adapter.asyncio.TimeoutError()
+        return await awaitable
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(tg_adapter, "_await_with_thread_deadline", _fake_deadline)
+
+    adapter = TelegramAdapter(PlatformConfig(enabled=True, token="test-token"))
+    monkeypatch.setattr(adapter, "_acquire_platform_lock", lambda *a, **k: True)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(adapter, "_fallback_ips", lambda: [])
+    monkeypatch.setattr(adapter, "_delete_webhook_best_effort", AsyncMock())
+    monkeypatch.setattr(adapter, "_start_polling_resilient", AsyncMock(return_value=True))
+    monkeypatch.setattr(adapter, "_polling_heartbeat_loop", AsyncMock(return_value=None))
+    monkeypatch.setattr(adapter, "_start_post_connect_housekeeping", MagicMock())
+
+    assert await adapter.connect() is True
+
+    assert fake_app.initialize.call_count == 2
+    assert fake_app.initialize.await_count == 1
+    assert deadline_calls == 2
+    tg_adapter.asyncio.sleep.assert_awaited_once_with(1)
+    fake_app.start.assert_awaited_once()
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_await_with_thread_deadline_returns_value_on_happy_path():
+    """The real helper returns the awaited result and raises no timeout."""
+    async def _ok():
+        return 42
+
+    result = await tg_adapter._await_with_thread_deadline(_ok(), timeout=5.0)
+    assert result == 42
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_await_with_thread_deadline_abandons_and_runs_cleanup_on_timeout():
+    """A wedged awaitable must raise TimeoutError promptly AND trigger the
+    best-effort on_abandon cleanup (the httpx-pool-leak guard).
+
+    This exercises the REAL _await_with_thread_deadline (not a monkeypatched
+    stub), covering the abandonment + cleanup mechanism directly.
+    """
+    import asyncio as _asyncio
+    import time as _time
+
+    cleanup_ran = _asyncio.Event()
+
+    async def _wedged():
+        # Swallows cancellation for a bounded window — long enough that the
+        # helper must return control BEFORE this finishes (proving it doesn't
+        # await cancellation, the #58236 shielded-scope behavior), but bounded
+        # so the abandoned task can't outlive the test and wedge teardown.
+        for _ in range(20):
+            try:
+                await _asyncio.sleep(0.05)
+            except _asyncio.CancelledError:
+                # Keep going despite cancellation, like the shielded scope.
+                pass
+
+    async def _cleanup():
+        cleanup_ran.set()
+
+    started = _time.monotonic()
+    with pytest.raises(_asyncio.TimeoutError):
+        await tg_adapter._await_with_thread_deadline(
+            _wedged(), timeout=0.2, on_abandon=_cleanup
+        )
+    elapsed = _time.monotonic() - started
+
+    # Returned control promptly — well before the wedged coroutine's ~1s span.
+    assert elapsed < 0.8
+    # The detached cleanup was scheduled; give the loop a tick to run it.
+    await _asyncio.wait_for(cleanup_ran.wait(), timeout=2.0)
+    assert cleanup_ran.is_set()
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_await_with_thread_deadline_cleanup_error_is_swallowed():
+    """A cleanup that raises must not surface as an unhandled task error."""
+    import asyncio as _asyncio
+
+    async def _wedged():
+        for _ in range(20):
+            try:
+                await _asyncio.sleep(0.05)
+            except _asyncio.CancelledError:
+                pass
+
+    def _boom():
+        raise RuntimeError("cleanup blew up")
+
+    # Must still raise TimeoutError (not the cleanup error) and not crash.
+    with pytest.raises(_asyncio.TimeoutError):
+        await tg_adapter._await_with_thread_deadline(
+            _wedged(), timeout=0.2, on_abandon=_boom
+        )
+    # Let the detached cleanup task run and be observed (no unraised error).
+    await _asyncio.sleep(0.05)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_shutdown_abandoned_app_closes_request_transports_when_uninitialized():
+    """The leak fix must release the httpx transports even when PTB's own
+    Application.shutdown()/Bot.shutdown() no-op because the wedged initialize()
+    never flipped _initialized. _shutdown_abandoned_app falls back to closing
+    each bot._request transport directly (HTTPXRequest.shutdown gates only on
+    client.is_closed, not on an init flag)."""
+    from unittest.mock import AsyncMock, MagicMock
+
+    # A half-built app: shutdown() is a no-op (uninitialized), but the request
+    # transports still hold open httpx clients that must be closed.
+    req0 = MagicMock()
+    req0.shutdown = AsyncMock()
+    req1 = MagicMock()
+    req1.shutdown = AsyncMock()
+    bot = MagicMock()
+    bot._request = (req0, req1)
+    app = MagicMock()
+    app.bot = bot
+    app.shutdown = AsyncMock(return_value=None)  # PTB no-op on uninitialized app
+
+    await tg_adapter._shutdown_abandoned_app(app)
+
+    app.shutdown.assert_awaited_once()
+    # Fell back to closing the transports directly — the actual leak fix.
+    req0.shutdown.assert_awaited_once()
+    req1.shutdown.assert_awaited_once()
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_shutdown_abandoned_app_handles_none_and_missing_requests():
+    """Robust against app=None and an app whose bot/_request aren't present."""
+    from unittest.mock import AsyncMock, MagicMock
+
+    # None app -> no-op, no crash.
+    await tg_adapter._shutdown_abandoned_app(None)
+
+    # app.shutdown() raising must be swallowed, and missing _request tolerated.
+    app = MagicMock()
+    app.shutdown = AsyncMock(side_effect=RuntimeError("still running"))
+    app.bot = None
+    await tg_adapter._shutdown_abandoned_app(app)  # must not raise